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Last week The Economist published a smart piece called How to make a killing. It highlighted several important points worth repeating regarding the hidden wealth of talent coming out of the Armed Forces. This post discusses the key issues. Read More

As I travel I read. Sadly I read far too many business books! Still the good news I get to share some special books that helped shape my views of how businesses can and should scale. These books will materially improve your understanding of the drivers that will shape your business success. In no p Read More

It seems the world is fascinated by demographics. Certainly the Japanese have more reason than most: The Japanese Health Ministry estimates the nation’s total population will decrease by 25% from 127.8 million in 2005 to 95.2 million by 2050. But what does age really mean? Read More

In 2012 the venture capital industry invested $26Bn in the US market, in 3698 firms at an average investment of $7m (NVCA). These were directed at start up companies. Approximately 40% of these firms will fail so it’s not an investment arena for the faint-hearted. Given only around 6000 companies s Read More

These days a finance department is a metrics department. What gets measured gets done. There needs to be much more clarity around whose job it is to take action when ratios are going the wrong way. There needs to be more visual cues in our dashboards, reports and white boards. Trend lines and stat Read More

What do you do if sales start to drop? Where do you start? Here are 10 quick actions to put you in a much better place. Read More

If you only employ people that do what you tell them they will fail to execute. As CEO you need to see a little piece of yourself in them. They need to solve problems on the ground, to get stuff done. The solutions that will be needed will require curiosity, grit, problem solving abilities, problem Read More

Everyone is moving to the understanding that marketing is the key to sales success. The problem is that if everyone is starting to do it, so how do you sound different? How do you create remarkable content? I've shared 6 little secrets from a recent blog post by Velocity Partners and added by own t Read More

How you prepare for a Board Meeting? What should it cover? How long should it last? What should it try to achieve? After completing 100s of them, here are a few ideas. Read More

Whether you are a practiced acquirer like Google or Oracle we all need a process to execute big projects successfully. Acquisitions can be small or large but they all need care and attention if the deal is to be a success. The Acquisitions Approvals Model sets out a great How-to model on 2 slides a Read More